Tears and Fears
by Lcsaf
Summary: It was a dark and stormy night and a fifteen year old girl was at home alone with her crying baby brother. We've all heard the story before. But, it's not what you think. And it's not what Sarah thinks, either.....


**DISCLAIMER**: If only I owned Jareth….sadly, I do not. Nor do I own anything else you see here.

**A/N**: I can't believe it. The one fandom I told myself I should never try to write for, because I would never get it right. I surprise even myself, sometimes. It's a oneshot. It has been such a long, long time since I last saw Labyrinth, so I hope I haven't managed to get Jareth and Sarah TOO out of character. Apologies, please enjoy.

* * *

Three weeks. It had been three alternately long and short weeks since Sarah had cleaned up the mess in her bedroom from the crazy celebration with her new friends.

She felt like a new woman, having learned such big life lessons at such a young age...and being unofficially inducted into a secret society. Seeing the goblins at school had been something of a shock at first, but now she knew who was to blame for the faulty wiring in the gym lights, the disappearance of books, papers and other Important Items that were due and suddenly needed.

She'd been closer to Toby too. She had offered to watch him on more than one occasion while Karen was busy running errands and her father was still at work, and she even let him in her room now.

And Toby, for his part, seem to understand the change as well. He quit crying when Sarah came into the room, stopped grabbing for her long hair and spitting up on her poet shirts...mostly. Sarah seem to not get so frustrated when he did.

And then Toby got his first earache.

The howling the household had put up with _that _night made the crying three weeks ago seem absolutely calm by comparison. It didn't help that there had been a storm brewing.

Merlin had even begged to be out in the garage for the night, just to be away from the noise and Sarah almost joined him. For once, she was glad Karen and her father had been there.

They had taken him to the doctor's since and had eardrops they could administer, but it really didn't help much. Toby only slept in the day, and by night, was crying well into the early morning. Karen was turning waspish from lack of sleep and Sarah could feel herself going the same way. She hadn't been able to concentrate on her homework from the noise and her appointed "shift" to hold and rock the baby. Even her friends had left all too soon from visiting when Toby had started up.

"Loud!" Ludo complained, covering his head.

Ambrosius wimpered and laid as close to the floor as he could get. Outside, the wind started blowing.

"Ye sure that ain't a changlin'?" Hoggle asked, as he covered his own ears.

Later, Sarah wondered if Hoggle wasn't right as she bounced Toby around, trying to get him to sleep.

Mr. Williams was at the office late, working on a contract for a big partner and a friend of Karen's had been admitted in the emergency room from a car accident. Sarah had never seen her quite so pale before as she hung up the phone, and in that instant, Sarah felt something of a connection with her difficult-to-please stepmother.

"Go," Sarah told her, scooping up Karen's car keys and purse and depositing them in the stunned woman's hand. Upstairs, Toby was starting to cry again.

Karen's eyes flitted to the top of the stairs, uncertain.

"I've got him," Sarah insisted firmly. "You go..." She gave Karen a gentle shove towards the door.

"_Thank you_," Karen whispered before she left.

Sarah didn't even wait until she made it down to the driveway before the young woman was racing towards her parents' room. Toby didn't even pause for breath as she picked him up. Sarah didn't mind. Tonight wasn't about her or Toby or even Karen. This was what families were about.

Of course that had been _**hours**_ ago.

Tonight had been one of the more difficult nights, by far. She'd fed him, bathed him, changed his diaper and rubbed his back--all for seemingly naught (though the bottle worked by default that he couldn't cry and suck at the same time). Sarah's patience was starting to wear thin.

"Are you a changling?" Sarah cooed as she bounced her brother, hoping to quiet him. "No, changlings probably don't make as much noise as you do."

As if on cue, Toby started crying harder.

Sarah groaned. "Come _on_, Toby! I can't give you any more eardrops right now. And what's _with_ this weather?" she cried in outrage as lightning lit up the sky. "It's not supposed to rain for the rest of this week!" With a frustrated sigh and a crying baby on her hip, she went downstairs to shut the windows and call in the dog.

It was hard enough to latch the downstairs windows with only one hand; it was nearly impossible to call Merlin in. He apparently decided staying in the rain was preferable to having to stay inside with Toby. Sarah resorted to four dog treats and speculatively wondered if they'd work on Toby.

He settled down a bit, once the windows were closed. Sarah couldn't blame him. Who wanted to listen to thunder with an earache? She chanced a hesitant trip back up the stairs to put him in his crib. Lancelot lay on the landing as Sarah neared the top.

She rolled her eyes and scooped up the bear. Toby's tears were scaring off the goblins enough to keep them out of the room, but not out of the house, apparently. She handed Toby the bear and opened the door to her parents' room.

Thunder boomed she as she stepped in the room. Toby _**howled**_.

"I closed that window!" Sarah cried angrily. She was going to **kick** the next goblin she saw. She _wished_ Toby would just stop crying.

Horrified at the last thought, Sarah's mind backpedaled. She didn't wish, she hoped, **HOPED**. She didn't mean wish. She didn't say it outloud, it didn't count, did it?

"Sarah."

Sarah whirled around at _that_ voice.

** He** stood there, much like he had three weeks ago, though, with a lot less drama. He wore light colours this time, cream high neck shirt and a beige vest and pants with matching dark boots and gloves. His amulet sparkled meanicingly.

Sarah shrank back and clutched the crying baby tighter. "No! Go away! I didn't call on you and I didn't wish him away! I won."

Jareth raised an eyebrow. "I haven't come to take him."

"You...you haven't?" she asked in a small voice.

He couldn't resist. "Not unless you say the words. Do you want me to take him?" He smirked as she held the baby further away and glared at him.

"What do you want?" Sarah hissed.

He was rudely interrupted by the close crash of lightning and the immediate follow of thunder.

Toby went into another peal of tears and Sarah quickly tried to shush him.

Both of the Goblin King's eyebrows rose fractionally. Interesting. "Give me the child," he commanded softly.

"You said you weren't going to take him!" Sarah accused. Thunder rattled the windows.

With an irritated eye roll, Jareth waved a hand to shut and latch the window behind him. "Sarah, I swear to you on my throne as King of the Goblins that no harm will befall you or your brother by my hand. In fact, I will help you. Just, give me the child."

Sarah held his gaze for a moment as she absently bounced her brother on her hip and rubbed his back. "If you're lying..." she warned.

He felt a tug of amusement, but controlled the twitch at his lips as she walked towards him. Her grey eyes were large as she searched his face for any sign to not trust him, when she found none, she sighed.

"He's got an ear ache," she informed him as she handed Toby over.

"He's got a magic sensitivity, " Jareth insisted. He bounced Toby and started humming, walking around the room as he rubbed the baby's back. He was oddly proficient at calming the youngest Williams and looked completely at home doing so.

Toby quieted down quickly and Sarah gave a silent sigh of relief and went to relieve Jareth of his charge.

Instead of handing him back over, however, the Goblin King took the rocker and started a gentle lullaby as Toby laid his head on Jareth's shoulder.

Fascinated, Sarah took over the footstool and watched as her brother dropped off to sleep. Outside, the storm had lessened to a steady rain.

"You look surprised, my dear," Jareth spoke softly, amusement tainting his words.

"You've done this before," Sarah whispered.

"Often enough," he agreed. He looked at Toby and stroked his hair. "Never under these circumstances."

"In someone's home?"

"Aboveground," Jareth clarified. "There has never been a child that had returned from the Underground." His words were so soft and neutral; it took a moment for Sarah to realize the meaning behind them.

"No one's ever beaten the Labyrinth before," she breathed.

"Not everyone finds it to be such 'a piece of cake'."

Sarah glanced at him sharply to find a spark of humour in his unusual eyes. Did he just make a joke? The concept was so foreign, Sarah grasped for something else to think about, just so her brain wouldn't melt at that thought. "What did you mean about his..."

"His magic sensitivity?"

Sarah nodded, eyeing her brother. "Yeah." She raised her eyes to Jareth's. "What is that, some kind of allergy?"

"Not quite. Your brother absorbed a fair amount of magic during his...stay."

Sarah fought the blush rising to her face, but continued to meet his gaze.

Jareth continued. "It is inevitable, magic is quite literally in the air. None of it is harmful to humans. For the most part, it does not affect one's physiology."

"Does that mean...I've absorbed it too?" Sarah interrupted. She tried not to fidget as the Goblin King looked at her appraisingly.

"Yes," he said, finally. "You have. But you have done something that no mortal has ever done before--you have absorbed the magic of the Labyrinth: Wild magic." His magic. She had absorbed _his_ magic.

Sarah looked down at her hands in wonder.

"Magic in the Underground is Natural. It is the essence of all Life there. Aboveground, it is unnatural--it reeks havoc with the balance of the mortal world. With the magic that he's absorbed, your brother senses this imbalance and it makes him uneasy--scared." Jareth rose and placed Toby in his crib and tucked him in.

"What magic is he sensing?"

Jareth merely looked at her.

Sarah shook her head. "I haven't done anything magic!" she she whispered vehemently.

"The storms, Sarah," Jareth insisted, waving a hand at the window. "Do they not gather in strength when you are frustrated? You can not think they are pure coincidence."

"So, what am I supposed to do?"

"Relaxing would seem to be a good idea. I've discovered that imagining whomever or whatever causes me frustration in an oubliette does the trick."

Sarah frowned. "That's not funny."

"My dear, I wasn't joking," Jareth replied. But his eyes sparkled with humour. He grabbed a crystal and held out to her.

Sarah shook her head. "I'm not falling for _that _again."

"It's only a crystal, Sarah, nothing more," Jareth said, rolling it from fingertip to wrist.

"But if I look at it this way..." Sarah quoted.

"Nothing more," he insisted. "However, should you require my assistance again..." Jareth held the trinket in the palm of his hand and lightly touched the top with the tips of his fingers. The crystal grew cloudy. "You may call." He removed his fingers and the sphere gained its clarity again. He tossed it lightly to Sarah with fluidity of his wrist.

Sarah glanced at the object in her hands and narrowed her eyes. "Why are you being so helpful? What's in it for you?"

Jareth tsked. "So suspicious, Sarah," he tutted.

Sarah tossed her head and stood straight. "I've learned a lot in thirteen hours," she informed him.

Jareth smirked. "No, my dear," he whispered as fingered a lock of her hair. "You've only barely begun to scratch the surface." He pressed a kiss to her glossy strands and disappeared before she realized he never answered her question.

**

* * *

A/N**: I really have no clue where this came from. I think it struck me two nights ago with the idea of Jareth calming Toby down from a crying fit, and Sarah being absolutely gobsmacked at the idea of babysitter!Jareth. 

**Bonus Scene!** This is very much part of the story, but I just could not find a place to make the smooth insertation for this scene:

"_How did you know?" Sarah asked, waving her hand at Toby and herself in a circular manner. "About us, I mean, about…this?"_

_It was a tense quiet in which he studied her, deciding what to tell her, and what to not. He had little doubt that she would be less than thrilled to hear how intimately the power she possessed connected her to the Labyrinth and to him. For as much as she had absorbed the Labyrinth's magic, so too had she given to it. She had offered her name while in the magical maze and marking a trail with her lipstick had symbolized as giving of one's self in a very small manner. But, those little occurrences had linked her with the Underground. The Labyrinth was as connected to her as much as it was to him. And when he had felt the agitated magical shifts in Labyrinth, he knew something was not right._

_Only a fool could not have pieced it together. And while the newly defeated Goblin King was many, many things, a fool was still not one of them._


End file.
